Seasonal workers earn between $15.75, which is the minimum wage, and $18 an hour. When the jobs end, they receive only 55% of their pay in EI benefits. Given the rising cost of living, they obviously have to use food banks.
In addition, the EI benefits usually run out around February. Workers find themselves without EI before their jobs resume. Those are the people we're seeing at food banks. We're talking about seasonal workers who are mostly over 60, because our population is aging. Young people will not take seasonal jobs, especially if they have a family. They take other types of jobs instead.
Based on our research, three out of four seasonal workers are over the age of 60 and are part of a couple. The woman works as a chambermaid or dishwasher or does some other tourism job. The man is more likely to work in the bush or in landscaping, the type of job that is either less available or non-existent in the winter. There are a lot of jobs like that in the Charlevoix region. Many small businesses hire seasonal workers when the tourist season starts up again, because they don't have enough staff to meet the increased demand when the tourism industry reopens. All other kinds of businesses, like garages—